It can be desirable to provide a way to measure flow rate in a fluid system. For example, in an irrigation system it can be desirable to measure flow rate at one or more locations in order to determine operating characteristic of the system, including identifying leaks, confirming operation, and the like. This desire can be of particular interest for drip irrigation systems where one or more devices may be subsurface. This desire can also be of interest for irrigation systems with subsurface water supply lines.
One solution is to use a multitude of flow meters each individually capable of providing an output of the flow rate at each flow meter. For example a flow meter can measure the flow and use an onboard processor to perform a calculation to determine and display the flow rate. However, the cost of the flow meters, including the onboard processor and display, and limit the use of such flow meters.